Wednesday, February 8, 2012

I haven't blogged here for a long time. There are many people who are distant relatives who have read these pages, taken information from them, and without bothering to share theirs in return. I've always been generous with what I have learnt, and in some cases have been fortunate to speak with and get to know a few other generous people. But they are not in the majority. Hence, there are many broad themes explored here, but without any real detail, as you'd find in my personal archives.

Where some people have been silly enough to copy and paste some of my unverified research, most of it has since gone on to be proven several times over, whilst other elements have proven to be errors. So when I see those errors copied and published elsewhere, it's always very obvious that it was written by someone selfish, and it's not worth my time to give them the updated details.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Apologies to anyone I haven't replied to as yet, but I've been very busy with a couple of projects. This will probably be my final post here on blogger, before unleashing a new, more easily maintained and organised blog elsewhere. That's project numero uno.

Project two involves a larger scale, collaborative project. More on that when I know exactly where I'm going with it!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Patience is the name of the game, especially in relation to the release of new archival sources to the internet. Do you get excited when you find a new email waiting in your inbox, notifying you of a new research source available at Ancestry? Can you contain your enthusiasm for the regular Lost Cousins newsletter? Or how about notification of new newspaper batches placed onto the NLA newspaper site?

I'm guilty of all the above. It may be particularly geeky to be so enthralled and enraptured by newly available resources, but that's OK. It's just you and I that know, right? I won't tell.

At the moment, I'm drumming my fingers waiting around for the above mentioned NLA newspaper additions. It's been some time since the last official update via email, and one is generally given by February, but there is no sign so far. The crux of Australia's major metropolitan newspapers have been digitized and uploaded, and now, hopefully, we'll see the addition of some more specialized, regional/rural newspapers as the original release list hints. The Sydney Morning Herald has been a gold mine for researching my family history, and for history in general. The Melbourne Age has been interesting and useful as well. But it's the regional newspapers that will give the best results, I think, given that my ancestors were based primarily in the Far North of New South Wales, and around the Murray / Riverina areas. Time will be telling.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Having viewed the latest iteration of Who Do You Think You Are, I must say that I'm quite surprised! The American edition, produced by Lisa Kudrow and featuring Sarah Jessica Parker as the star of the first episode was an enjoyable piece of television. It remained true to the formula as originally set out by the UK production, despite a sometimes overt push for drama where it only existed in a mild form. Yes, it did have the obligatory American styled 'Entertainment Tonight' angle, pumping up the story, complete with dramatic music, but in most cases it didn't interfere with the basic premise of the show. It allowed for the story to unfold, and with help of the program's focal point (Parker), who offered her voice to the bulk of the programs narration (a welcome change to previous version's relying upon face to camera interviews).

I didn't learn much about American genealogy research, but the show did offer some excellent insights into events such as the Salem Witch Trials, and the California Gold Rush (which I'm interested in for a branch of my mother's genealogy that ventured there from Australia in the early 1850's).

The American WDYTYA is a worth addition to the others so far developed. It may not be a great research help, but it is highly enjoyable.